BION. The old priest at saint Luke's church is at your command at all hours.

Luc. And what of all this?

BION. I cannot tell; except they are bufied about a counterfeit affurance: Take you affurance of her, cum privilegio ad imprimendum folùm : to the church; take the prieft, clerk, and fome fufficient honest witnesses:

If this be not that you look for, I have no more to

fay,

But, bid Bianca farewell for ever and a day.

Luc. Hear'ft thou, Biondello?

[Going.

BION. I cannot tarry: I knew a wench married in an afternoon as fhe went to the garden for par fley to stuff a rabbit; and fo may you, fir; and fo adieu, fir. My mafter hath appointed me to go to faint Luke's, to bid the priest be ready to come against you come with your appendix. [Exit.

Luc. I may, and will, if fhe be fo contented: She will be pleas'd, then wherefore should I doubt ? Hap what hap may, I'll roundly go about her; It shall go hard, if Cambio go without her.

+ I cannot tell; except-] The first folio reads expect.

[Exit

MALONE.

Except is the reading of the fecond folio. Expe, fays Mr. Malone, means-wait the event. STEEVENS.

5 -cum privilegio ad imprimendum folùm:] It is fcarce neceffary to obferve that these are the words which commonly were put on books where an exclusive right had been granted for printing them.

REED.

6 to the church;] i. e. go to the church, &c.

TYRWHITT.

7 Exit.] Here, in the original play, the Tinker fpeaks again, and the fcene continues thus:

KATH. I never faw a better-fashion'd

gown, More quaint, more pleafing, nor more commendable: Belike, you mean to make a puppet of me.

PET. Why, true; he means to make a puppet of thee.

TAI. She fays, your worship means to make a puppet of her.

PET. O monftrous arrogance! Thou lieft, thou thread,

Thou thimble,

Thou yard, three-quarters, half-yard, quarter, nail,
Thou flea, thou nit, thou winter cricket thou:-
Brav'd in mine own houfe with a fkein of thread!
Away, thou rag, thou quantity, thou remnant;
Or I fhall fo be-mete' thee with thy yard,
As thou fhalt think on prating whilft thou liv'ft!
I tell thee, I, that thou haft marr'd her gown.

TAI. Your worship is deceiv'd; the gown is made Just as my mafter had direction:

Grumio gave order how it should be done.

8

GRU. I gave him no order, I gave him the stuff.
TAI. But how did you defire it should be made?
GRU. Marry, fir, with needle and thread.
TAI. But did you not request to have it cut?
GRU. Thou haft faced many things.*

thou thread,

Thou thimble,] We fhould only read:

O monftrous arrogance! thou lieft, thou thimble. He calls him afterwards-a fkein of thread. RITSON.

The tailor's trade, having an appearance of effeminacy, has always been, among the rugged English, liable to farcafms and contempt. JOHNSON.

9

2

be-mete] i. e. be-measure thee. STEEVENS.

-faced many things.] i. e. turned up many gowns, &c. with facings, &c.] So, in K. Henry IV:

"To face the garment of rebellion

"With fome fine colour." STEEVENS.

Good Lord, how bright and goodly fhines the

moon!

KATH. The moon! the fun; it is not moonlight

now.

PET. I fay, it is the moon that shines fo bright.
KATH. I know, it is the fun that shines fo bright.
PET. Now, by my mother's fon, and that's my-
felf,

It shall be moon, or ftar, or what I lift,
Or ere I journey to your father's house:-
Go on, and fetch our horfes back again.—
Evermore croft, and croft; nothing but croft!
HOR. Say as he fays, or we fhall never go.
KATH. Forward, I pray, fince we have come fo

far,

And be it moon, or fun, or what you please:
And if you please to call it a rush candle,
Henceforth I vow it fhall be fo for me.

PET. I fay, it is the moon.

ΚΑΤΗ.

I know it is.8

PET. Nay, then you lie; it is the blessed fun." KATH. Then, God be blefs'd, it is the bleffed fun:

But fun it is not, when you fay it is not;
And the moon changes, even as your mind.

8 I know it is.] The old copy redundantly reads-I know it is the moon. STEEVENS.

66

The humour of this fcene bears a very ftriking refemblance to what Monf. Bernier tells us of the Mogul Omrahs, who continually bear in mind the Perfian proverb, If the King faith at noonday it is night, you are to behold the moon and the stars." Hiftory of the Mogul Empire, Vol. IV. p. 45. DOUCE.

9

it is the bleffed fun:] For is the old copy has in. Corrected in the fecond folio. MALONE.

GRU. I confefs the cape.
TAI. With a trunk fleeve;

GRU. I confefs two fleeves.
TAI. The fleeves curiously cut.
PET. Ay, there's the villainy.

GRU. Error i'the bill, fir; error i'the bill. I commanded the fleeves fhould be cut out, and sewed up again; and that I'll prove upon thee, though thy little finger be armed in a thimble.

TAI. This is true, that I say; an I had thee in place where, thou fhoud'ft know it.

GRU. I am for thee ftraight: take thou the bill,' give me thy mete-yard, and fpare not me.

HOR. God-a-mercy, Grumio! then he shall have no odds.

PET. Well, fir, in brief, the gown is not for me. GRU. You are i'the right, fir; 'tis for my miftrefs. PET. Go, take it up unto thy mafter's use.

GRU. Villain, not for thy life: Take up my miftrefs' gown for thy mafter's use!

PET. Why, fir, what's your conceit in that?

elfe with fome fine wrought taffata, at the leaft, fringed about, very bravely." STEEVENS.

So, in the Register of Mr. Henflowe, proprietor of the Rofe theatre, (a manufcript of which an account has been given in Vol. II: " 3 of June 1594. Lent, upon a womanes gowne of villet in grayne, with a velvet cape imbroidered with bugelles, for Xxxvis." MALONE.

7 take thou the bill,] The fame quibble between the written bill, and bill the ancient weapon carried by foot-foldiers, is to be met with in Timon of Athens. STEEVENS.

8thy mete-yard,] i. e. thy measuring-yard. So, in The Miferies of Inforc'd Marriage, 1607:

Be not a bar between us, or my sword "Shall mete thy grave out." STEEVENS.

GRU. O, fir, the conceit is deeper than you think

for:

Take up my mistress' gown to his master's use!
O, fie, fie, fie!

PET. Hortenfio, fay thou wilt fee the tailor

paid :

[Afide.

Go take it hence; be gone, and say no more.
HOR. Tailor, I'll pay thee for thy gown to-morrow.
Take no unkindness of his hafty words:

Away, I fay; commend me to thy master.

[Exit Tailor.

PET. Well, come, my Kate; we will unto your

father's,

Even in these honest mean habiliments;

Our purfes fhall be proud, our garments poor:
For 'tis the mind that makes the body rich;
And as the fun breaks through the darkest clouds,
So honour peereth in the meanest habit.
What, is the jay more precious than the lark,
Because his feathers are more beautiful?
Or is the adder better than the eel,
Because his painted fkin contents the eye?
O, no, good Kate; neither art thou the worfe
For this poor furniture, and mean array.
If thou account'ft it fhame, lay it on me:
And therefore, frolick; we will hence forthwith,
To feaft and fport us at thy father's houfe.-
Go, call my men, and let us ftraight to him;
And bring our horfes unto Long-lane end,
There will we mount, and thither walk on foot.-
Let's fee; I think, 'tis now fome feven o'clock,
And well we may come there by dinner time.
KATH. I dare affure you, fir, 'tis almost two;
And 'twill be fupper time, ere you come there.
PET. It fhall be feven, ere I go to horse: